Blog Stats

A pair of top White House officials is pushing to broaden the war in Syria according to two sources familiar with the debate inside the Donald Trump administration.

Ezra Cohen-Watnick, the senior director for intelligence on the National Security Council, and Derek Harvey, the NSC’s top Middle East advisor, want the United States to start going on the offensive in southern Syria, where, in recent weeks, the US military has taken a handful of attacks.The White House did not respond to requests for comment.

The Pentagon has publicly asserted it has no intention to fight Syrian Arab Army forces and their allies, unless provoked.Meanwhile, Trump’s address in Saudi Arabia in early May made clear the United States was going to take sides in the Middle East’s sectarian struggle, choosing to back some Arab parties in an attempt to isolate Syria’s ally, Iran.In this respect, the Gulf monarchies and the Zionist entity have all welcomed Trump’s vows to push back against Iran.Some administration officials have argued for expanding support for the Saudi-led coalition bombing Yemen.

Like Syria, however, a larger US role in Yemen’s war carries an array of risks, and experts say treating Yemen as a proxy war with Iran could backfire badly.

While officials argue in Washington over strategy and vie for influence in the administration, events on the ground in Syria are moving quickly, raising the potential of a conflict.

Relatively, US military officers made clear that they will not hesitate to carry out additional attacks in case American special operations forces are ‘endangered.’”If our folks are on the ground and they’re threatened, we will use air power, whether it’s against regime forces or pro-regime forces,” one officer said.